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The birth certificate : an American history / Susan J. Pearson.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Pearson, Susan J., author.
- Series:
- North Carolina scholarship online.
- North Carolina scholarship online
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Birth certificates--United States--History.
- Birth certificates.
- Registers of births, etc--United States--History.
- Registers of births, etc.
- Citizenship--Documentation--United States--History.
- Citizenship.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (1 volume)
- Place of Publication:
- Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2023]
- Summary:
- For many Americans, the birth certificate is a mundane piece of paper, unearthed from deep storage when applying for a driver's license, verifying information for new employers, or claiming state and federal benefits. Yet as Donald Trump and his fellow 'birthers' reminded us when they claimed that Barack Obama wasn't an American citizen, it plays a central role in determining identity and citizenship. In this book, historian Susan J. Pearson traces the document's 200-year history to explain when, how, and why birth certificates came to matter so much in the United States.
- Contents:
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction: The Life of a Document
- PART ONE. BUILDING BIRTH REGISTRATION
- Chapter 1. The Laws of Life and Health
- Chapter 2. Honored in the Breach
- Chapter 3. A Cooperative Movement
- PART TWO. LIVING WITH BIRTH REGISTRATION
- Chapter 4. A Basis for Effective Work
- Chapter 5. Age Ought to Be a Fact
- Chapter 6. Adjusting the Color Problem
- PART THREE. CONTESTING BIRTH REGISTRATION
- Chapter 7. Controversy as to the Method
- Chapter 8. We Are Simply All Americans
- Conclusion: From Bibles to Bathrooms
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed on May 29, 2023).
- Previously issued in print: 2021.
- ISBN:
- 979-88-908616-2-7
- 1-4696-6571-9
- OCLC:
- 1281650768
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